Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Hmmm...how to put this....

In Idaho, I've never seen a black out hunting or fishing. It's probably because we have so few blacks. Our population is small, only about 1.3 million or something like that. I doubt that we have 5000 blacks in the bunch. For some reason, they just haven't migrated this way.

Dick

There are a few black hunters around these parts,but seeing one afield is like seeing an albino deer...they exsist but aint one behind every tree.

I think the cultural thing has a lot to do with the low percentage of black shooters and hunters.
However, at deer season here in northern Michigan, there are a lot of black guys from elsewhere who come here to hunt. I see them in the grocery store before and during the season buying food, lots of them, all dressed in hunting clothes like the white guys who also come here to hunt. I have a black buddy from my army days that fishes in the Bass Masters tournaments too. But one black guy a whole ethnic group doesn't make.. If ya get the drift.
Asians are a different story. They are heavy into shooting and hunting, everwhere I've ever lived, and they are accepted as one of the gang.
Interesting thread. When I had a table at gun shows down in the Dtroit area peddling my knives, a black guy always came to my table and we would kabitz. He wasn't interested in knives, but he was a walking encyclopedia about pre 64 Winchester Model 70's, and loved chatting about his collection, and what rifle he was looking for next. He knew EVERYTHING about pre 64 Model 70's; which ones were made in what years, and how many of them were made, by caliber, transition models, etc. He was a true Model 70 loony, a geek. But, he was one in a million.

Don

Hmmm... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkktYS-TBQ8

I've been to a number of ranges in the counties outside of Chicago and very rarely see a black. Here in the North they tend to live in the cities and larger towns...very rarely in rural areas or smaller communities. I suppose part of it is lack of exposure to the sport and not knowing someone to teach them.

Somehow that part of their history has not carried forward; lots of cowboys were black and there were the Buffalo Soldiers, etc.

I think the answer to your question is as varied as there are people in this world. But let�s talk in generalities.

Most Hispanics in the US today do not come from and were not raised in a hunting/gun culture. In most countries that they or their ancestors came from, as with most countries in the world today, the average citizen is not allowed to own a firearm and hunting is reserved for the elite and very rich. So being allowed to own a firearm of any kind is a concept that is outside their ability to understand. My own grandparents are perfect examples of this. My grandfather would never have considered buying a firearm for any reason. As a young man he had fought with Pancho Villa in the early 1900�s. Then as the new government was established in Mexico he saw the right to own firearms stripped from himself and his fellow citizens. After all if the peasants don�t have guns then there can�t be another revolution can there? Finally having enough of this new oppressive government he immigrated to the US and got his citizenship in 1934. Growing up I used to listen to the tales of how people caught with �illegal� firearms were dealt with swiftly and many times brutally. His own brother had gone out hunting in order to feed his family and a jealous man turned him in to the federales who arrested my great uncle. His family did not see him again for 30 years and then he was a broken man that had a lot of mental issues to deal with as well as a physical problems due to his treatment at the hands of the Mexican government. My father got into hunting quite by accident. A Caucasian friend of his invited him to go squirrel hunting when he was in high school and once he was bitten by the hunting bug he couldn�t get enough. By the time he was 17, and over his parents protests, he had saved enough from part time jobs to purchase an old single shot Winchester shotgun. Like they say, the rest is history as my bothers and I began hunting at around 7 years of age and each of us now owns a ranch designed for hunting. I have also gone on to have been on the board of the Texas State Rifle Assoc. and involved with such groups as the NRA, NWF, DU, RMEF and many other hunting/shooting related groups. So the point I am trying to make is that many Hispanics are not involved in the shooting and hunting sports as they did grow up living in cultures that allowed them to. It is only the subsequent generations, like my brothers and I, that grew up here in this country within a pro-gun and pro-hunting culture that have taken up the sport and are passing it on to our own children and grandkids.

As far as blacks go, I think that a lot of the same applies to them but from a different aspect. Until the late 1960�s or early 1970�s blacks in the US were still being treated as second class citizens and companies did nothing to advertise in that market in order to promote the shooting and hunting sports; after all you never saw magazine ad or commercial with non-Caucasians until the 1970�s or so. The majority of the black community looked upon, and still does today, as hunting and shooting as a white man�s sport because that is the image that was perpetrated in this country. For example, one of my best friends is a 46 year old black gentleman who is also the school district assistant superintendent in his town. David has been instrumental in helping me put on my youth shooting and hunting events for over 20 years now. He has promoted shooting and archery as well as fishing in every school district that he has worked and has been heavily involved in the Texas Youth Hunting Program almost since it�s inception. But to this day other blacks still criticize him for this involvement. He has been called some very colorful names by other blacks that do not understand why he wants to act like a white man. �Blacks don�t hunt or shoot guns! What are you trying to be an Oreo or something?� He gets very frustrated with his own people but admits that he will never get most of them to understand his love of the outdoors and hunting or shooting. It is just they way their culture in this country has developed over many years.

Are these all of the answers to your question, obviously not, just some observations from the other side.

thousands upon thousands of black folks here fish. farther south in bama you go, you're more apt to find black hunters, particularly small game hunters. see more middle-class black guys getting into deer hunting here in the central northern part of the state. lots of former sharecroppers have their own land, and hunt there rather than in clubs/leases.

I have often noticed that I will see blacks wearing jackets when I'm comfortable in short sleeves. Sometimes the jackets are not lightweight windbreakers, either.

It is a cutural issue
Not many minorities are into the winter sports or swimming/diving either.
If you are brought up with these issues than you will carry on tradition even if it is only that you inherited your Daddy's/Momma's gun.
Never shot a deer myself but both my dad's and father in law's trophies hang in my house. Dad's a monster northern pike taken through the ice and FiL two deer mounts.
Think nothing of them until urban friends visit (children are afraid)

Houndgirl -I think the cultural/exposure thing is quite a bit of it.

Experience with blacks, here runs pretty much about the same scenario as introducing whites to shooting and hunting. Being young I'm sure has a lot to do with it also. Had a black family that farmed about 2 miles from us when kids. Everyone of the kids were always hunting with family, theirs and anyone else they knew whom they could go with. This also included the girls in the family. Their Dad and one of the boys, both remained hunters, and the rest of the 11 kids got caught up in careers and family. Back in the 50's and 60's, that took a little more involvement for black people, than looking for recreation opportunities.

I think predominately the larger percentage of blacks that hunt or enjoy the shooting sports among adults seems to come from action oriented careers, such as police, firemen, atheletes. Might be biased on that assessment though, what blacks I seem to have been involved with and around when shooting or hunting.

I hunt across from Black's in my spot.
quality people and ethical hunters all.

Thought I might add this Houndgirl:

Was reading the info on a box of '06 in a Galyan's store, and this black guy comes up and asks if I knew anything about hunting.Well, you never really know how to answer a question like that, so something on the order "Not as much as I would like too."

That got a laugh, and kind of broke the ice so to speak. Long story short, he explained when a kid his dad and uncles were big time hunters. One of his "youth" jobs was working for a man who ran a quail hunting plantation type operation. He had the chance to do some quail hunting there. When he became a man, and graduated with his pharmacy and business degrees, and became busy raising a family and starting a business of his own (a big time chain). Said every time something reminded him of his family's hunting stories from childhood, or thought of his job on the hunting club, he would get the desire to hunt.

Turned out he had been looking at elk hunt ads in the mags, but really had no idea what as everything was different and new since he was a kid. Ended up, we both got him fixed up rifle & acessories (30/06), 'bout three diffeent brands of ammo for elk. He had all the Nimrod questions about the rifle and ammo, and the other junk (junk, for me is stuff I think I need, but usually don't, in other words my "stuff").So it took a couple of hours to get all this worked out.

Give him invite to shoot on my range. After his third trip here, seen he was serious about it, so hooked him up with friend for a Rocky Mountain Bull Elk hunt (knew he would be treated OK there).
They didn't have much luck on that hunt due to weather, and some bad luck from storm timing. But this guy had such a great time, he booked for the next hunt available. My friend had a cancellation for a late hunt, and he like this guy so much he called him and offered him the cancelled hunt for free, since they had rotten luck with the weather.

Haven't counted them for awhile, but think there are 18 postcards on a board in the shop, of different COUNTRIES he has hunted in since. His wife actually started hunting with him, but she likes the warmer weather hunts. She always introduces me to friends as "the guy who ruined her husband".

The point of this, the hunting thing might be a genetic behaviorial trait. But I think it would be safe to say the seed was planted or sprouted from the memories of Dad/Uncle stories, and his "youth" job.

I think most black folks are uncomfortable around armed rednecks wandering the woods.

All seriousness asside, it's an intersting subject, one I haven't payed much attention to.

In all the years I've been shooting at the range in Anchorage, I can only think of one black guy there. We talked about guns and hunting, and he mentioned he worked for he railroad and would get dropped off by the train to go black bear hunting.

I see every nationality imaginable fishing, but agree hunting seems to be mostly white males.

You'd be cold too if your azz was hangin' out of your pants...

One question I need to ask Houndgirl. What type of Indian are you asking about Native American, East Asian Indian, or African American Indian?

The reason I ask I have a cousin that has Spokane Indian Blood who in Wildlife Management with the Spokane Indian Tribe and also have3 other relatives that are breeds or are married into members of either the Spokane or Colville Indian Tribes who are hunters and/or fishermen.

This is petty much a given most of the Plains and Coastal Tribes of the West are Hunters & Fishermen. Thus the reason for the Boldt Decision here in Washington, which is the basis for the Indians getting HALF of Fish here in the Northwest and Tribes being able to Hunt from August through February with little regard to State Hunting and Fishing Regulations.

It has yet to be explained how the term "Hunt and Fish in Common" translates to Half of the available resource of gives them the right to Hunt and Fish for all species almost year around.

Much of Alabamas "Black Belt Region" (nothing to do with race) is the rural portion of south central alabama, is the best deer hunting in the state, and is largely populated by blacks. And its quite common to see them hunting and fishing. Nothing unusual about it. Also, when I used to fish up in Knoxville with my buddy, they had lots of bass tournements. And I saw many black serious bass fishermen. So, I think its a location thing HG. Combined with what someone else said. City "minorities" are much like city "white folks". They are city and like what comes with it. They don't hunt and fish as much regardless of race, color, ethnicity, etc.

Combination of cultural, economic and societal influences, I guess.

Hunting can be expensive; money's tight.

No culture of hunting in most black homes, I guess.

Limited access to good hunting lands, and difficulty (?) in
obtaining permission to hunt from farmers.

On and on and on.

Nice.

6.5

From a cultural and historical perspective hunting as a passtime or sport was traditionally reserved for the landed gentry in the European model. There was no public land and most tracts large enough to have game were privately held and unlike the American tradition, the game belonged to the landowner. New immigrants from Europe were too busy trying to make a living to be able to get involved in the shooting sports. This changed substantially after WWII. As to the Hispanic immigrants other than the Latino from Mexico and Central America, they are still a relatively new
group. I would be interested to know if the Asian population had any other influences than those mentioned for the Europeans.
Simultaneous with this, the amount of public hunting land within easy reach of the majority of minority populations has been shrinking particularly in the South and the East. In VA there was a 25% reduction in the number of hunting licenses issued this past year from the previous year. Less private land made available to hunt and dwindling game populations in public lands has been blamed for that, but it would have to have at least a similar impact on the new immigrant who might be interested in hunting. As to the other shooting sports I have actually seen an increase in the number of minorities at ranges in the East. The relaxing of CCW laws has also resulted in more women getting involved in the shooting sports as well.
The ending of the draft has resulted in only 6% of the American population having any military experience and this was one of the ways that urban dwellers were first exposed to firearms use.
The popularity of the bolt action, for instance, can be directly attributed to the number of shooters who were issued the Springfield '03 during the first world war. So I don't think the relatively low numbers of minorities in the shooting sports can be attributed to any single factor.
But every time we bring any new shooter to the experience we have the opportunity to turn this around.